how quickly you can create a new product, and how expensive it
can be before having revenue.”
Secret of success
Two years ago, in 2017, Vu was named to the list of 40 under 40
rising stars by Silicon Valley Business Journal.
What has made him so successful at such an early age? According
to his friend Nguyen, the answer is Vu’s head and his heart.
“That brain of his is definitely different, and his kindness may
have helped him move things forward,” Minh says. “He has always
been interested in robotics,” she explains. “And as a student living
far away from home for so many years, he can truly understand
the value of a telepresence robot.”
Vu’s partner, Go, points to other qualities that make his friend
well-suited to the startup life. “He is smart and forward-thinking
and is not afraid to take risks,” Go says. “He was also born to be an
entrepreneur, and has a high EQ (emotional intelligence), which
allows him to connect well with people and communicate his vision,
regardless of how technical and future-driven that might be.”
In speaking about the origin of OhmniLabs, Go offers more
details about the motivation behind the company.
“In 2015, we had both exited from our previous companies—
Google for Thuc and Hobnobs for me,” says Go. “Thuc was
interested in my hobby project at the time, which was a telepresence
drone, and saw the value in pursuing it further. We came
together, partially due to the desire to work together again, partially
66 South Bay Accent
due to our understanding of the value of this technology on how
people communicate.”
Go says he and Vu are proficient at different things at OhmniLabs,
which has helped them develop a good working relationship. They
also just know each other very well.
“I have known him for almost half of my life, and I appreciate
the friendship, the companionship and support we have built for
each other,” says Go. “It’s hard to find someone who shares the
same passion and works alongside you for that long.”
For his part, Vu says that starting OhmniLabs presented him
with a welcome challenge to build a hardware company that operated
with the flexibility and speed of a software company. It also
gave him a chance to work with Go, who is a seasoned roboticist.
3-D innovation
Telepresence robots are nothing new. The technology has been
around for many years, often used by large companies for such
purposes as connecting remote employees to their offices and
remote medical specialists to hospitals. The devices may range in
price from $1,300 to $340,000, depending on a host of features
and capabilities.
One of the characteristics that makes Ohmni different from
other such robots on the market is its mode of production. The
company uses 3-D printing to make the robots quickly and costeffectively.
Vu says the OhmniLabs’ cost for producing one robot
can be 1,000 times cheaper than those made by traditional man-
THUC VU IN THE 3-D
PRINTING ROOM
THE COMPANY USES 3-D PRINTING TO MAKE THE
ROBOTS QUICKLY AND COST-EFFECTIVELY.